Scuba Shack Shore Dive Take II

70 Mins 110ft 2200psiToday we did the same dive as last time. This time Miguel made this wonderful rendering of our route, before the dive, so that I could see what we were doing (the red object is Jorge's aerial shot of a Mexican on a bike). We planned to head along the wall until it kind of split off to the left and shot down deep. Miguel showed me where the turn point was and I noted that it was about 24 mins into the dive (which of course will change with current etc). I think I can remember how this spot looks. Then we headed on a perpendicular to the wall off to the right - I guess we were heading West which is a sure bet in Cozumel to reach the shore. I hadn't brought my compass so I thought - lets use natural navigation. The sandy floor was littered with coral heads in the direction we were heading so I figured I'd line two up and maintain my heading that way. This worked for about 5 mins and then I got side tracked looking at some Pygmy Filefish and forgot how my coral heads were supposed to line up. I want to do this dive again with a compass and see if I can navigate it on my own. Anyone who knows me (and particularly has dove with me) knows navigation is not my strong point. I'm thinking a sense of direction is a bit like having natural rhythm and in the comforting words the girl in my hip hop class in Brooklyn 'not everyone is born with rhythm but I think you can learn it'.
Anyway back to the Pygmy Filefish:

These little guys hang out in grasses on the seabed and, as they change color to match their surroundings, they are difficult to spot. Miguel found two of them and now I'll know what they are next time I see them.
We also found some nice banded cleaner shrimp living on a plant which I think might have been a turtle weed or a paddle blade algae or something else completely - I wish I had the full set of reef ID books - I only have the fish book. They can often be tempted to clean your finger nails for you. On this occasion I decided not to harass them:

I found another algae I liked called a 'bristle ball brush' algae. Yes - they look like little cleaning brushes. If I was the kind of person who ever touched marine life, which of course I'm not, I'm guessing they'd feel like little cleaning brushes. they often have little shells nestled between their little bristles. Cute.